The contribution of what we can call, without prejudging its cohesion, ‘rural sociology’ merits evaluation in three respects :

- Firstly with regard to its genesis : revealing in particular the trajectory of a field which was central to the post-war social sciences.

- Next, with regard to its outcome : inwhat way has it contributed to thinking on the place of the peasantry and the countryside in French society?

- Finally, with regard to its present state, a priori rather paradoxical as the marginalization of the field under the academic plan does not prevent areas that we can still qualify as ‘rural’ from holding fundamental stakes in contemporary World.